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Aparallactus capensis SMITH, 1849

IUCN Red List - Aparallactus capensis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAtractaspididae (Aparallactinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesAparallactus capensis bocagii BOULENGER 1895
Aparallactus capensis capensis SMITH 1849
Aparallactus capensis punctatolineatus BOULENGER 1895 
Common NamesE: Black-headed Centipede Eater, Cape Centipede Eater
G: Tausendfüßerfresser 
SynonymAparallactus capensis SMITH 1849: 16
Elapomorphus Capensis SMITH 1849
Uriechis capensis — JAN 1866
Uriechis capensis — GÜNTHER 1888: 324 (?)
Aparallactus capensis — BOULENGER 1895: 173
Aparallactus lübberti STERNFELD 1910: 57
Aparallactus capensis capensis — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 122
Aparallactus capensis luebberti — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 122
Aparallactus capensis — WELCH 1994: 15
Aparallactus capensis — AUERBACH 1987: 172
Aparallactus capensis — BOYCOTT 1992
Aparallactus capensis — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 28
Aparallactus capensis — BROADLEY et al. 2003: 92
Aparallactus capensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 46
Aparallactus capensis — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 451
Aparallactus capensis — PIETERSEN et al. 2021

Aparallactus capensis bocagii BOULENGER 1895
Aparallactus Bocagii BOULENGER 1895: 173
Aparallactus bocagii — BOULENGER 1896: 259
Aparallactus capensis luebberti STERNFELD 1910 (fide LOVERIDGE 1944)
Aparallactus capensis bocagii — LOVERIDGE 1944: 202
Aparallactus capensis bocagei — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 126

Aparallactus capensis punctatolineatus BOULENGER 1895
Aparallactus punctatolineatus BOULENGER 1895: 173
Uriechis punctatolineatus — BOCAGE 1897: 201
Aparallactus capensis punctatolineatus — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 128
Aparallactus capensis punctatolineatus — LAURENT 1958: 122 
DistributionE Republic of South Africa, Eswatini (Swaziland), E Botswana, Zimbabwe, C Mozambique, E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Zambia

Type locality: “country (Kaffirland) to the eastward of the Cape Colony, South Africa” [= KwaZulu-Natal, NE South Africa fide V.F.M. FitzSimons, 1962: 154].

bocagii: Angola, SE Zaire, N Namibia
luebberti: Namibia

punctatolineatus: E Angola, Zaire, W Tanzania, N Malawi  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: BMNH 1946.1.8.62. fide Wallach et al. 2014: 46
Holotype: BMNH 1896.1.29.13 (unclear fide P. Campbell, pers. comm., March 2019) [punctatolineatus]
Holotype: BMNH (? 1905.5.29.34, collected by Ansorge) [bocagii] 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 3334 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: partly after Loveridge 1944. Aparallactus capensis uluguruensis BARBOUR & LOVERIDGE 1928 is considered as a synonym of A. guentheri by BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991. Kaiser et al. 2013 considered the generic name Plumridgeus Hoser 2012 invalid and rejected its use instead of Aparallactus.

Type species: Aparallactus capensis SMITH 1849: 16 is the type species of the genus Aparallactus SMITH 1849. Aparallactus is the type species of the subfamily Aparallactinae BOURGEOIS 1986.

Phylogenetics: see Portillo et al. 2018 for a phylogenetic analysis of members of Aparallactinae, inlcuding members of Aparallactus.

Diet: centipedes (and maybe other prey) (Maritz et al. 2021). 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality in the former Cape Colony of South Africa.

A. c. punctatolineatus was named after Latin punctum, puncti, point; dot/spot, and Latin “linea”, meaning stripe or line (without coloration described by Boulenger 1895).

The genus was named after Greek aparallactos (ἀπαράλλακτος), precisely similar, indistinguishable. [?]. 
References
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